So, they found Deep Throat. Sweet

Now if only we could find Osama, that would be three mysteries solved in one week (along with the location of sculpture gardens)

It's almost June. For some reason, it's fealt like June ever since I've been home. But now I get to have like 45 days of June, which isn't all bad. June has its moments.

Yesterday pretty much makes up for how bored I was the rest of my 4-day weekend. I woke up around 9:34, and hung out until the softball game at 1. Softball was a great game, we won 7-0, and the weather turned out to be amazing. So amazing, in fact, that Jackie, Carmen, Ashley, Maria and I went to Poncho's and then hung out at Gregory Park for a couple hours. Then we decided that we should hang out at a beach that night, so we met at Whipple at 8:30, and started calling everybody we knew, and then we went back to my house with everybody and we had a fire and played stupid campfire games, it was great. Hung out inside once enough people had found ticks on themselves, and we played 4 on a couch, which was decent enough, but I think there was enough people who were tired and enough who were hyper that the game never really caught on. Hung out until like 1:30 I think. It was quite possibly the best Memorial Day I've had in a while.

This was the closest to a normal "Mark Party" that I've had since being home. Now we just need Scott and Maya and the picture will be complete. Maybe Scott could bring his new brother-in-law too. Chino. How exciting.

I tried making a good summer mix, but I think O failed. I start too many mixes with "Don't Panic" by Coldplay. And I need to work on my song order. I end up going from acoustic to hip-hop to rock in three songs, and that's just not right most of the time.

Albums I'm looking forward to:
1. "X & Y" - Coldplay (duh)
2. "Nothing is Sound" - Switchfoot
3. "Sunrise to Sunset" - Paul Wright
4. "Panic" - MxPx
5. "ANYTHING AT ALL, JUST RELEASE SOMETHING" - Lauryn Hill

Seriously? They're real?

Tonight, the search for the lost sculpture gardens came to an end, as Jackie, Ashley, Carmen and I were fortunate enough to discover their location. We were going to play "Explore Minnesota", and I wanted to try and find them one more time, so we went down Evergreen Drive, and there it was, in the yard of this house! AND, there was a sign that said that the sculpture gardens had moved 13 miles north off of Smiley Road or something stupid like that, so we went and found the new one, and it's between Schaefer's and downtown Nisswa, by the new Subway, and it's basically a gift shop with a scary garden in front of it. So we took some pictures of us by one of the lions by the entrance, and Ashley and Jackie got the crap scared out of them by a ceramic elephant. It was grrrrrrrrrrrreat!

Yesterday falls under the category of Top 10 Least Productive Days Ever. Woke up at 11L30 (which is the latest I've slept in about a year), then went and rented Meet the Fockers and went to Haley's garage sale, where my sister Abby and I bought a ghetto Sega Genesis for $15 with money my parents left for us to use while they were gone. Dropped by Caribou, then went home, where we proceeded to battle in NBA Jam for approx. an hour. Then Abby left to go to a high school party, and I called around to see if anybody was doing anything, and nobody was, so I played Aladdin, and then watched Meet the Fockers while chatting on AIM. And then it was like 1 and I was tired, so I fell asleep. Good times all around.

As much as I hate to say it, I'm actually looking forward to working next week. It'll give me something to do.

Tomorrow is the BHS softball game at 1 PM at Adamson Field. Be there or don't.

I'm kinda sad that there really are sculpture gardens. It takes away a lot of the mystery and intrigue that has surrounded Baxter for the past 3 days. And it's too bad that Hannah wasn't with for the discovery, as she was the person who first noticed them listed. It's like Moses leading Israel and getting to go to the Promised Land. I'm sorry Hannah. Please don't hate me like you did last week.

It was actually nice today, so I decided to call people to play volleyball. And then it started raining. But it had stopped by the time we were going to play, so I went anyway. There were 3 of us, and it's kind of hard to play volleyball with 3 people, especially when it's me against two of BHS' finest alumni players. I showed them what's up though, so it's all good.

Peace out.

Things to do in Brainerd

So, today was...interesting.

I got to sleep in for the first time since I've been home, which was nice. I worked for 4 hours this afternoon at my high school job because they were desperate, and that was fine enough. My parents went to our cabin in Canada for the weekend, and my sister had to play in band for the BHS graduation ceremony. What did I do?

Well, first I spent like an hour and a half trying to find somebody to do something with, and then I had the brilliant idea that we should go and look at the new Brainerd Lakes Area Visitor's Center south of town, and it was going to be great. Then Erin and Seth bailed on me, so I went with Ashley and Hannah, and it was pretty cool. It would have been cooler if Ashley's crappy camera had worked, but we still got to read all of the posters, like the one that said to call 911 if you had an emergency, we hung out on the Paul Bunyan statue, and we made a loop around the entire building on the sidewalk. It would have been so much better if it had been daytime and there wasn't a State Trooper there.

Oh, before we did that, back when I was trying to find something to do, I Googled "things to do in Brainerd" and got this site, which says that the sculpture gardens on Evergreen Drive in Baxter are the 9th best thing to do in town. None of us had ever heard of these, so we went and looked for them, and came up empty. Then we went down Evergreen again, and still nothing. Then we went down one more time on our way back from the Visitor Centerm and we turned down this side road, and found this creepy junk yard type thing that we all thought looked like it would be the start of a scary movie. Then we went down another side street and it became a culdesac, but there aren't any houses on it, so we decided that we're going to grill there for the fourth of July.

Then, we went and walked around Super Wal-Mart for an hour, and Ashley and Hannah got visually molested by these creepy guys, and it was a good old time, and we found fabric for Hannah to make stuff out of, but she can't sew, and that's unfortunate, cause those clothes would've been amazing.

Then we came back to my house and had bars, and then they left, and now I'm writing this. If anyone wants to do anything at all tomorrow, let me know, because I am game for anything, especially if it's outside, because I want to be outside this weekend.

That is all.

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Went to the BHS orchestra concert last night, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Jason Parks has come a long way, especially considering he only started the viola this year. Simply amazing.

It's been two weeks, so it's time to compare B-town to Nashvegas:

1. While at Belmont, I ate the at the caf every day, which was pretty much the same thing every day. I don't think that I can count the number of lukewarm cheeseburgers and turkey sandwiches I've had this year. Coming home, I was really excited to get some home cooking, which I've gotten, but there's a problem. My family decided to go on a diet since I've been in Nashville, so many of the foods that I normally look forward to are off limits, mainly in the noodle family. Kind of disappointing, but it's still so much better.

Advantage: Brainerd

2. When I left Nashville, it was 85 and sunny. When I arrived home, it was 45 and cloudy. And that's pretty much been the trend ever since. And this weekend, Memorial Day, one of the biggest weekends of the year, it's supposed to be cold. B-e-a-utiful.

Advantage: Nashville

3. I haven't been able to see my friends up here as much as I'd like, and definitely not as much as I saw my friends in the dorms, so right now, it has to go to Belmont, but that could definitely shift back eventually.

Advantage: Nashville

So, right now it's advantage Nashville, but we'll see how that shakes out in the end.

I sold another textbook online today, which makes 4 so far. Only like 25 more to go...

Wassup Now?

I guess today is the day for everybody and their brother to post on their Xanga, but I'll stick to Blogger, it's never steered me wrong.

I've decided that I don't dislike the act of working, but I hate the thought of working. Like today, for example, I woke up this morning and knew that I had to work, and I didn't want to. But, once I started working, I was OK with it, even though it was for 11 hours. Dang, it's already 8. I've been home for an hour. Crap.

I'm glad that Hannah isn't mad at me anymore.

So, this weekend...

I worked a few hours on Saturday, and had people over that night. Unfortunately, it started raining about an hour after it started, so we had to go inside. We were able to go down to the beach and chill for awhile, but of course the water is still too cold, so we didn't go in. Watched SNL, which was pretty average. Lindsay Lohan was rather disappointing as far as hosts go, but the America's Next Top Model sketch was great, and Coldplay did an excellent job.

I'm half-way through Season 4 of Seinfeld, and I think it is the best of the first four. Pretty dang funny all around.

Peace out.

Why does it feel like I write the same thing day after day on here?

I saw Episode III again tonight with Seth, and it was still very good. Definitely recommended, but don't pull an Aana, see the other ones first.

I've decided that Samuel L. Jackson is one of the only men in theowlrd who could pull off a purple light sabre.

Work today was fine. I got the textbooks I've sold sent out this morning, which is a good feeling.

My sister Sarah (the one who visited Nashville for the Belmont crew) just got a new job in Brainerd working at Edina Realty. She'll probably start next week, and she'll probably be living at home for a little while until she finds a place to rent. Having her around will be fine. Having her dog around on the other hand, I could live without. For those of you who don't know, I'm not a pet person. I like dogs every once in a while, but I find pretty much all other animals annoying and disgusting. I especially hate cats, so I can at least be thankful she doesn't have one of those.

Man, my life is boring right now. If I start blogging about really pointless stuff, and it gets almost painful to read, please let me know, and I'll try to do better next time.

A note to Parker: I was reading the description of an animated version of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe today, and it included that following sentence: "An evil witch's spell has cast Narnia into eternal winter, and only Asian, noble lion and king of the woods, can help the children defeat the witch and return springtime to Narnia." And that's when I thought of my favorite Asian. They should make a TV show or movie called "My Favorite Asian". Guaranteed gold.

Pope Reaches Out to Non-Catholics, Chinese

So, lets see, I'm assuming that Non-Catholics refers to Protestants. This would lead me to believe that Benedict has reached out to 1.8 billion people in his first month in office. Now that's impressive.

Next up: India and everyone who owns a bike.

Here's hoping...

Got my name in a lottery for pre-sale tickets for the Coldplay/ Rilo Kiley show in Nashvile on September 18. If I don't get tickets this way, I'll have to resort to more drastic measures: eBay.

But seriously, they;re on SNL this Saturday (with the always lovely Lindsay Lohan), it's only like 2 weeks until X/Y, and I could see them live in less than 6 months. Times like these are what dreams are made of.

What do you mean, "It was actually good"?

First and foremost: saw Episode III last night, and it almost lets me forgive George Lucas for Episode I (I didn't mind Episode II, mainly because of the sweet fight scene with Yoda). I won;t give away any of the twists and turns, but I will say
1. I liked Hayden Christiansen WAY more in this one than Episode II (although he was still pretty weak when talking with Padme)
2. Natalie Portman is hot. No lie.
3. I thought Anakin's turn to the dark side was a little too sudden, but that's just my opinion.

Low point of the event: not starting til 12:30 because of the concessions stand. But I'm not bitter. Not at all.
I think I'm gonna see it again this weekend, but in Jenkins, because they have stadium seating. Anybody wants to come, let me know (probably Friday night).

Still no response from John Hansen. Slacker.

I got a new cell phone last night, and I'm still getting used to it, but I like it alot, so thats good. No camera, but I'll survive.

Worked 10 hours today, probably another 8-9 tomorrow. It's money though, and at this rate, I don't think I'll have to get another job if I'm working over 50 hours a week.

Just got back from the BHS band concert, which was pretty good. I need to catch up on sleep after last night.

Peace out.

Sith Happens

Yes, I am a nerd. And no, I don't care if it's cliche. I'm going to see Episode III tonight at midnight. I'll let you all know how it is, but let's just say it can't be as bad as the first two, or I'll leave the theater. I'll walk out. I'll do it. Just wait and see.

In completely unrelated news, I've sold three textbooks on half.com in the last 24 hours! Good times had by all.

Someone lost a bet.

Just chillin.

I think that's what I'm destined to do this summer. I've wroked for my dad every weekday since I've been home, and that hasn't been too bad, and also doesn't look like it's gonna let up anytime soon. Beyond that, though, I've got pretty much nothing going on. Went to Boos' last night, which was a good time. Saw an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm", which was somewhat entertaining, but not as funny as I thought it would be.

Went to a Warrior softball game this evening (they won 1-0), and got to hang out with a bunch of people then too, which was cool.

"America We Stand As One" is now the most downloaded video on the internet! VICTORY!

I need to find a second job for the summer. I have no idea what I'm going to do or where at, but I need something 2-3 nights/week so I can have some spending money. If you have any suggestions, let me know ASAP.

If I ever see another shot of someone having plastic surgery on TV, I might do something drastic. Like vomit.

I watched my first episode of "House" tonight, and it was pretty dang entertaining. It might become a regular event. In related news, there was not an episode of "The Office" on tonight, which is why I was able to watch "House", but I was still disappointed nonetheless.

I think that's all for now.
Peace out.
Ame Agaru

Dang Good Food.

So Season 4 of Seinfeld in 2 days. Fast times in B-town.

Went to Famous Daves in Crosslake tonight as a family, and it was dang good. I ordered way more food than I could ever eat. It was great.

Nothing else really to say right now. I'm still annoyed by that stupid kid from Kicking and Screaming.

Hide your face so the world will never find you!

Here's what's happening:

Went to the BHS choir concert on Friday night. Pretty good overall. Still not sure how I feel about the Phantom medley.

Saw "Kicking and Screaming" after that with Haley. Um, this was definitely not Will Ferrell's best work. Parts of it were plain stupid. But some of the kids were really cute, and Will did his best. The biggest thing that bugged the crap out of me about this movie was the presence of that stupid neighbor kid from Even Stevens. He's annoying enough on a half-hour show, but put him up there for 2 hours and I wanted to crawl through the screen and stab that stupid kid. Seriously ridiculous. His name is Steven Anthony Lawrence, and I think I'm going to vow to never see another movie that he's in. Even if it's a frickin cameo, it's not getting my money, becasue I don't want to encourage this kid as a comedian. Sick.

OK, today we went and picked up my sister Katie from the airport and went to the MOA, where I got a pair of shorts and a shirt. We stopped by my cousins' house on the way back, which was a good time because they are actually fun to hang out with, and then we raced home in an effort to see as much of SNL as possible. I caught the last half, which was pretty uneventful. Even Ferrell's Robert Goule was't quite the same, but it was still pretty funny. If anyone TiVoed this, I would greatly appreciate a viewing. Or if you just watched and want to let me know if it is worth trying to find a copy of, that's cool too.

Time for bed
Peace out.

Do I have any "Buffy" fans in the house?

I just sent this e-mail to John Hansen:

John-
I am a long time subscriber to the Dispatch, and I have a suggestion for the Tempo section. Could you please have a weekly column where you reference the cancelation of "Futurama" or "Buffy" at least once in each piece? What's that? You already do that anyway?
Nevermind.

Sincerely,
Mark Ahlberg

I really really hope that he responds. And soon.

So long, and thanks for all the fish

So I just got back from seeing "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" with Hannah, and I have to admit it was pretty funny. Insanely random, but funny. We decided it will end up being a Christmas party movie or something eventually.

I worked from 8:30-6:30 today. Not bad to be home 1 day and already 100 bucks richer, eh? Tomorrow starts at 8 and goes until we're done, which could be anywhere from 3-7. We shall see.

I wish that I knew how to use Flash Macromedia, because then I could do an intro for this blog that is a play on Barney of all things. You know how, at the end of each show, Barney comes back on and says "Hello again to all my friends, I'm glad you came to play. Our fun and learning never ends, here's what we did today"? That's what I'd do, cause that's kinda what I feel like this blog has become. I noticed that during first semester, when I had VERY few friends down at Belmont, I posted about weird news and entertainment stuff. And that was OK. And then once I actually had friends down there, I had semi-interesting things to post about, so I did that. I wonder my rantings will further evolve someday. Maybe this will become a political blog, one of those that the pundits on CNN and FoxNews will consult after debates and speeches to see what I thought. Or maybe I'll have a theme, like waiterrant.blogspot.com, which is all about this guy's job waiting tables for a living and how much he hates it. I hope my life never sucks that much.

15 and a half hours, and I didn't even get a frickin t-shirt

All right, here's a recap of the last few days:

Monday: I had a Macro final at 11, which I never know how I do until I get the test back (which I won't). Then me and Pete picked up my sister Sarah from the airport. I brought her back to Belmont and showed her around the campus for awhile, did some packing, I showed her the Parthenon, then we went to Opryland with Pete and other random people. Came back and ate at Sonic, and then my car wouldn't start when we were gonna leave, so Tim came and jumped me and took us to Dairy Queen, where we hooked up with the crew, and I had a peanut butter cup Blizzard. Then we went to the pedestrian bridge downtown and hung out and took pictures for awhile, and that was a great time.

Tuesday: I got up at 8 and wrote my Theater and Film final analysis of Moulin Rouge. Then I picked up my sister, who stayed at Pete's brother's apartment, and she came back and we got everything clean and packed and ready to go. Checkout went fine, and I let Sarah experience the Belmont Caf (yes, I'm a terrible brother), which was unusually bad (which is saying something). Tim jumped my car again and we went to Advance Auto Parts to get a new battery, and everything ran fine. Theater and Film final was uneventful and concluded with cupcakes, a plus. Then we headed out on the grand trip beginning at 3 PM. I drove the first 6 hours, Sarah took 9-1 AM, I drove 1-4, Sarah 4-6:30, and I finished up the last hour, arriving home at approx. 7:50. Good times.

Today: I slept from 9-noon, then I watched a disc of Friends Season 3 and unpacked all of my crap. I discovered that I can dual-screen my laptop with an old monitor, and it's pretty sweet I'm not gonna lie. I also discovered that I can use AIM on the family computer, so my screen name is notthatmarkymark if you would like ot chat (esp. since MSN doesn't work on this computer). I just checked my grades for the semester, and I got all A's except for an A- in Recording Technology, which screws up my quest for a 4.0, but I can live with a 3.97 I guess.

So anyway, being at home is still an interesting feeling. I'll start working with my dad tomorrow, which should be fairly regular. I think I realized on the way home that I liked this semester a ton, and also that I'm pretty torn between wanting to be home but I could've just as easily stayed in Nashville this summer and had a job, and I wouldn't have been unhappy with it.

I need to sleep.
Peace out y'all.

Home again

Hey everybody, I made it back to B-town about 20 minutes ago, and I've basically been up for 24 hours now, so I'm gonna go sleep, but I'll be back later.

On the practice and state of being a self-glorified liberal in B-town

I remember a time when everyone was completely disgusted with a certain person in my 8th grade class who skipped a year half-way through. Everyone thought she was so stuck on herself, and that everything she touched turned to an A+. Well, we were pretty much right, but not completely, and now I think of her as being extremely intelligent, but overall pretty normal and even ok to hang out with. While at BHS, she was the epitome of arrogance, and I think she had pretty much every right to be.

And now it has come to this. I would like to start by saying that I am conservative and redneck, lacking any and all social refinements or graces. I think Modest Mouse is overplayed, and that Black Eyed Peas suck almost as much as Pure Moods. I enjoy my ability to use spell check as well (although I wish this thing had a grammar check every once in a while). And today I came across quite possibly the biggest piece of self-righteous, pompous, arrogant crap I've ever read. I don't make a habit of calling people out when their posts are lame, only when people stop posting altogether, but I felt this deserved some attention.

Here are some excerpts:

"I thoroughly enjoy being smarter then most of my peers, insulting them with witisms that they cannot comprehend and avoid working in small groups because of their obvious lack of intelligence, especially from my elitist view."

"Anyway, there is no one here in the middle of a damn cornfield who has even half the intelligence of my pinky toe. "

Incidentally, I would like to point out the difference between "know" and "now". The first is when you are cognizant of an idea, concept, or fact, while the second refers to the current moment. I realize that they are spelled similarly, and that similar spellings can be confusing on two otherwise unrelated terms, but that's just the way it is.

This blog, along with some of the comments and attitudes that I have read recently make me very thankful that I am no longer at BHS, since apparently making it a closed campus gives people nothing else to do except to think highly of themselves and read variations of fairytales.

And on a related note, as much fun as anonymous comments can be, if you don't have the balls to sign your name to your thoughts, you should just send them VoxPop, because they really don't carry any weight in my mind.

Pushing up daisies and roses

It's been awhile... (cue Staind)

The past few days have been really really weird. Yesterday, I had my Mathematical Inquiry final, and I have no clue how I did on it, but I'm pretty sure that I could've failed it and still have an A in the class. Then I hung out for awhile in my room, and then played another round of Disc Golf, which I did a little better than the Wednesday, so I'm slowly improving. Played Halo for a little bit, then I went to Bongo Java with John and had a white chocolate steamer, and I've decided that they have quite possibly the best steamers I've ever had. A friend of mine was leaving last night too, so we went and sent him off.

Today was a gorgeous day, and a big group of us played sand volleyball in the park, which was a lot of fun. Then we came back, and I watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets of ABC, mainly for the previews for Goblet of Fire and The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe. The Goblet of Fire footage looks pretty sweet.

The Chronicles footage, on the other hand, looks amazing, and I am sooooo excited for this film. If you want to see a longer trailer for it, go to www.narniaweb.com and clikc on the French trailer, which you can watch in English with French subtitles.

My sister will be arriving in less than 48 hours, which is crazy to think about. I need to do some more packing before she comes, and I think some of that will happen before then. Only 2 more finals, and they should be fairly simple, so I really have nothing school-wise to worry about until next fall.

That's all for now.
Peace out.
Tengoku to jigoku

It is finished!

"Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion;
the LORD will make their scalps bald...Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of well-dressed hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding." - Isaiah 3:17, 24

I don't know what that has to do with me being done with Old Testament final and it being really easy, but I am and it was. Rock 'em Sock 'em Boppers, it's a good night.

Oder now, operators are standing by

A personal plug:

I have decided to start a small side business that hopefully can benefit any of you who wish to participate. I'm offering to re-sell used textbooks online, and I'll keep 10% of the final sale price. For those of you who are unaware of the potential benefits for yourself out of this, I can almost guarantee you at elast twice as much money for your book as your campus bookstore would give you for it, and in many cases quite a few more times that much! If this goes well this way, I might do a reverse program in the fall to buy books cheap for people. Anyway, if this at all interests you, let me know, and I'll get in touch with you about how we'll do it.

OK, that's over.

The word I most often mis-type in blog posts: "should" always comes out "shoudl". Why is this?

Must study Old Testament. Must study Old Testament. Must study....

No Getting "Even"

Today was one of the highlights of the year for people at schools like Belmont where academic challenge is secondary: Dead Day! No classes, no finals, just relaxation. I think it was meant for people to study during, but that pretty much doesn't happen. They had a carnival of blow-up games on the front lawn of my hall during the morning and afternoon, and there was fun food like cotton candy and snow cones. Then I played my first game of disc golf ever, and even though I wasn't too good, it was still lots of fun. Following this, we played Halo 2, mainly the new levels (which I prefer to most of the original levels because they're easier to navigate). Then I watched part of the Steve McQueen movie "Nevada Smith", which was pretty good. University Ministries was sponsoring a pancake gathering tonight too, so I had some of those around 10. A friend of mine wants to watch Episodes I and II before school's out so that he can be caught up for May 19, and so we watched about 2/3 of the Phantom Menace before we all got really tired. On a side note, did anyone know that the senate scene includes representatives from E. T.'s planet? It's pretty sweet. Lastly, I watched a recording of the concert that a friend of mine did last weekend that I couldn't go to, and that was really really good. And now I sit here, at just past 1, and realize that in less than a week I'll be at home. Insanity.

I just found out that Will Ferrell will be hosting SNL on the 14th! This may be the most exciting news I've received in quite a while! Here's to hoping that he remembers how fun it was and decides to resuscitate the show.

Probably the second most exciting news is that during ABC's Saturday night showing of Harry Potter, not only will there be a preview for the new Potter movie, but the first trailer for "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" will premier, soon to be followed by a full-length trailer before some sci-fi movie coming out in 2 weeks.

My first final takes place tomorrow at 7 PM. Old Testament, the time has come for you to be done.

There's also a nap time in the hall lobby tomorrow that I will be reading stories for. Should be a good time.

That's all for now.
Peace out.
Dora-heita

You say it's your birthday, it's my birthday too, yeah.

Happy Birthday Mya Kuhn, our little girl's growing up so fast

And happy belated birthday to Shane. And Shane, please promise me that if you ever become Pope, you'll bring back the Pius name, cause that was the best one so far. Either that, or be Pope Tim. That would make you sound really important.

Additional congratulations are in order for John Hansen, who, accoridng to the Dispatch, received, "Third place in headline writing for 'No getting Even,' a headline on a story about Christian Even, a Pierz running back who was difficult to tackle" in the Minnesota AP awards. He's so clever, I can hardly move.

Donner Party Cherry Swirl

"I thought it was candy because they put candy in your ice cream ... to make it a treat. So I said, 'OK, well, I'll just put it in my mouth and get the ice cream off of it and see what it is.'"

This is the statement made by a man who found part of severed finger in his frozen custard from a place called Kohls in North Carolina. When I read that, I just about puked, so I thought I'd share it with everyone else.

When you leave my colors fade to gray (or is it grey?)

First and foremost, congrats to Maya on winning the April Blog Puzzle Contest. There will not be any more puzzles until at least September, because I don't want to have any, so there.

I got back from camping yesterday, and I had a really good time with it. We were at some state park about 45 minutes southwest of Nashville, and the people who were on the trip were a lot of fun. The only thing I didn't like was sleeping, as it was really cold, and they set our tent up on an incline, over a bed of rocks, so I had to keep myself from rolling down onto other people and from rocks digging into my back. So I got maybe 5 hours of actual sleep that night, and I didn't wake up with any noticeable pain until today, when my entire body feels like I slept on a bunch of rocks. Oh wait, that's because I did.

Something we noticed on this trip: there were 2 tents, one for the girls and one for the guys. There were 8 girls, in a big tent, and when it was really cold at night they huddled together for warmth. There were 3 guys, in a smaller tent, and we had one on each end and one in the middle. See, for me, use of space was much more important than warmth. I'm pretty sure that I shivered in my sleep, and I probably lost 3 pounds just from shaking so much that night, but there was no way I was going to roll over to another guy, for so many reasons not hte least of which is the homo-whatever connotations. I think that, with guys, if there's space for us to spread out, we'll do it. Otherwise, we end up wasting all of that great space on the outsides that we could have to oursleves. I'm not sure exactly what this is all going to, but that's just an observation.

I'm done with Recording Technology now, and the only thing I have left are 4 finals, one each on Thurs, Fri, Mon, and Tues of the coming week.

Between naps last night, I was able to watch the new episode of Family Guy, and catch some of American Dad too. I loved the new Family Guy, and American Dad was OK, but still not comparable. Brian and Stewey as parents should have happened a long time ago.

I watched Vera Drake last week before I went camping, and my reaction was mixed. Imelda Staunton did a great job, and some of the other actors were decent enough, but I'm just not sure that the story warranted a feature film. Maybe a book or something where you can go further inside her mind, or maybe a Hallmark film on CBS (although I doubt Hallmark would promote something as semi-controversial as a film about an abortionist), but they definitely stretched it to get 2 hours of worthwhile material. Most of it could have been skipped or whatever. In other words, if it's a last resort, or you want to watch one really good performance, you can rent it, but otherwise I'd say skip it. There was a definite reason it was only nominated for two Academy Awards (it was somehow nominated for Best Original Screenplay, which, I found out on imdb.com, they didn't even have. It was all improvised. Another interesting fact about the film: Except for Staunton, none of the actors knew that the film was about abortion until their characters find out. Each actors only knew what concerned their characters.)

Anyway, I need to laundry again today, because that shoudl always happen after a camping trip, and I have to make sure that a poster that needs to be done for my Math Inquiry test tomorrow got done. Beyond that, it's Tiger Woods on GameCube and maybe I'll decide on a good story for the evening on here.

Peace out.
Dersu Uzala